Bruce Springsteen - Straight Time: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "Straight Time" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

D
Got out of prison back in '86 and I found a wife
                      G
Walked the clean and narrow
                              D
Just trying to stay out and stay alive
Got a job at the rendering plant,
it isn't going to make me rich
                        G
In the darkness before dinner comes
                 D
Sometimes I can feel the itch

Chorus:
         A
I got a cold mind to go tripping across
       G
that thin line
                     D
I'm sick of doing straight time

My uncle's at the evening table
Makes his living running hot cars
Slips me a hundred-dollar bill says
"Charlie, you best remember who your friends are"

Chorus

       G                             D
Eight years in it feels like you're going to die
                G
You get used to anything
                           D
Sooner or later it just becomes your life

Kitchen floor in the evening, tossing my
little babies high
Mary's smiling, but she's watching me out
of the corner of her eye
Seems you can't get any more than half free
Step out onto the front porch and suck
the cold air deep inside of me

Chorus

In the basement, hunting gun and a hacksaw
Sip a beer and thirteen inches of barrel drop
to the floor
Come home in the evening, can't get the smell
from my hands
Lay my head down on the pillow and go drifting
off into foreign lands

Transpose

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Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

D

Guitar chord D

G

Guitar chord G

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "Straight Time" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "Straight Time" by Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce Springsteen Song List